Most skillful fighter in boxing history? Who is he?

[SplitSecond]

I dont think you understand what skill is.

Having a good reaction/speed that you depend on it rather than proper skill, that you just end up throwing your body in any direction without form and being off balance isnt a skill. Sure can get away with it because of your physical attribute like speed. But thats relying on physical attribute rather than form/strategy. If you have the proper skill/form of moving your head or blocking, making use of your good reaction than thats skill.



If you think Roy Jones is more skilled/better than Robinson or Louis, and Pep, you've gotta be smoking something hard. Nut hugging to the max.

you think roy jones had bad form? bad balance?

the man had some of the most perfect punching form, foot movement, ever, where do you think that power came from? you think he's some arm puncher that's just ridiculously gifted with hulk like strenght? no it's perfect form in punches, even when those punches are coming from awkward angles
and let me let you in a secret, if you have power from a suppossedly "off-balance" position, then you're actually not that off balance, esspecially considering roy could put his entire body into shots in those "off-balance" positions

again, roy jones is a supremely skilled athlete, not the average boxer who may consider that an off-balance position, alot of people dont even know how to hold a solid foundation for themselves, they duck their heads, move their upperbodies, but what do their legs do? nothing, still completely upright instead of a widened stance, roy does not use sloppy head-movement/footwork and just jump around aimlessly and stumbling unable to hold his balance with all his random, speedy manuevers

and yes roy jones was fast, but no boxer is so fast that they can get away with leaping across the ring at you with a left hook, that's intelligence, no man is so fast you can't time him and put him in his place should he be all speed/athleticism and no actual brains and experience and roy for the most part was in there with guys at punching range, he wasn't a runner by any means at all

[Layzie Kidd]

Really? Because skills are learned and acquired. Talent is something you are born with. And you clearly can't distinguish the difference.

+1

Worded it simpler and to the point better than I could. I think its a lost cause with that guy, he doesnt get it no matter how you explain it to him.

[SplitSecond]

Really? Because skills are learned and acquired. Talent is something you are born with. And you clearly can't distinguish the difference.

like i said in one of my earlier posts

skills and talent is a difficult and almost meaningless thing to seperate

suppossed "skills" for one person in boxing, another is born with

unless we are talking about carving skills or something which we aren't, andeven then the people that excel had it in'em already to excel with some type of artistic knowhow

and im sure that super carver/artist guy would be considered super skilled, not just pfft, he's just all talent

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Jersey Joe Walcott
Willie Pep
Whitaker
Looche
Robinson
Louis
Jack Johnson


If were to count modern fighters, I think B-Hop is one of the few worth a mention.

I added more since its an impossible thing to answer. Skill is strategy, and an overall effectiveness in timing, offense, and defense. Not relying largely on chin, heart, or physical attributes first.

No way jack johnson makes the list,,he was not that technically skilled, had a very awkward style that seemed to be more based on Greco roman wrestling than the sweet science..
Not taking anything away from johnson as a fighter, but can't consider him to be one of the most skilled ever

[Scott9945]

like i said in one of my earlier posts

skills and talent is a difficult and almost meaningless thing to seperate

suppossed "skills" for one person in boxing, another is born with

unless we are talking about carving skills or something which we aren't, andeven then the people that excel had it in'em already to excel with some type of artistic knowhow

and im sure that super carver/artist guy would be considered super skilled, not just pfft, he's just all talent

I'll try one more time and that's it.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is obviously exceptionally talented and skilled. He has been boxing since he was very young. If this same talented athlete had learned to fight at 20 y/o, his skills wouldn't be nearly as developed. This really isn't even debatable.

[New England]

the best offensive fighter i've seen is joe louis. he was almost perfect. he didn't have the footspeed or the chin of robinson, but those are talents, and not skills.


robinson's prime isn't all that well filmed. he's well filmed at middleweight, but that was after many fights and years at welterweight, where he was a real savage by all accounts.


the best defensive fighter i've ever seen is floyd mayweather jr. some might scoff at that, and that's fine. his offense, workrate, lack of finishing ability, keeps him off of the list of most skilled fighters of all time.



i guess that's a long way of me saying that i don't know who i'd rate at number one. i think joe louis is the most skilled offensive fighter i've seen, and floyd mayweather the best defensive fighter. robinson wasn't a defensive wizard, but he boxed very well in addition to having a savage offense. he may very well be my top pick.
i may pop back in to give a longer list of the most skilled fighters. i know that the thread starter calls for the single most skillful fighter in history, but i think a list of highly skilled greats would be easiest.

[creekrat77]

First off I am not even going to begin to read these previous comments but scrolling down there appears to be an argument on what defines skill. My choices revolve around the understanding that being extremely fast and naturally strong is not what I call a highly skilled boxer. My choices revolve around the boxers mastered finesse of styles that trump all other styles like the shoulder roll and ring generalship (and I'm not saying the shoulder roll is impenetrable by any means). Also these are the fighters that I think are more dominant so this list is biased.
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr
2. James Toney
3. Roberto Duran-
4. Mike Tyson- was a pretty amazing boxer in his prime considering his stature
5. B-hop
I'm just gonna stop way to many amazing boxers to list

[SplitSecond]

I'll try one more time and that's it.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is obviously exceptionally talented and skilled. He has been boxing since he was very young. If this same talented athlete had learned to fight at 20 y/o, his skills wouldn't be nearly as developed. This really isn't even debatable.

maybe you should read all the posts before just repeating everything i have already said

great fighters are born, then they are refined, you are born with the skills, now you need to get in shape to sharpen everything up, practice is just sharpening your already natural skills, experience gives you trail and error to better learn how to apply your skills

born with the skills was perhaps a little too far, maybe something more like born with an innate ability to quickly acquire certain skills, which is basically the same thing but *** it

anyway what i meant when i said roy jones was born with the most skill, he has all the moves everyone else can do in his arsenal, whether he chooses to use them or not, he was born very intune with his body, whether he decided to sharpen those talents(which he did with most) and he's very intelligent, you can see it in the hop and toney fight, you can hear it when he commentates, hes great at reading people

the definition is something acquired/learnt, thus, for example, a talented guy that could always throw perfect cross due to(brace yourself) "natural skills", apperently never obtained that, so not skilled(atleast not on here, anyone else in the world, in real life anyway, trainer w/e see a guy like this anywhere they'll be all "wow, you got some skills kid, how long you been boxing", answer "first day"), now some bum who learned how to throw a punch, now he has a skill going by the definition

so the bum, considering he's a proper bum, will get his ass kicked should he face the guy naturaly talented, who always knew how to throw the punch, and upon further training took it too a new level, but is not skilled, no, he's just talented, the bum is the guy with the real skills

and obviously it doesn't end with punches, a skill can be a learned tactic, but the thing is that the athletic guy has alot more creative options, he has alot of things to try and will obtain alot of skills from it

roy jones was born with alot of talent(alot of skills just waiting to be instantly acquired, and sharpened), so he doesn't get much credit for his skills, but you can believe he learned alot to add onto and properly use when he dominated 49 opponents(including to prime-ish ATG's) like no one else, he got hit less than mayweather, had great offensive variety(with perfect form), left to the head ko's, left to the bodies ko's, right to the head kos, right to the body ko, that timing of his which im guessing guys like layzie kidd just consider super speed and random arm flailing, his speed took it to a new level, but his timing was elite, the speed just made you go "wow" with the flashiness, and you could tell he had a guy read when those counter's came with him in perfect positioning to have his body behind

[SplitSecond]

First off I am not even going to begin to read these previous comments but scrolling down there appears to be an argument on what defines skill. My choices revolve around the understanding that being extremely fast and naturally strong is not what I call a highly skilled boxer. My choices revolve around the boxers mastered finesse of styles that trump all other styles like the shoulder roll and ring generalship (and I'm not saying the shoulder roll is impenetrable by any means). Also these are the fighters that I think are more dominant so this list is biased.
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr
2. James Toney
3. Roberto Duran-
4. Mike Tyson- was a pretty amazing boxer in his prime considering his stature
5. B-hop
I'm just gonna stop way to many amazing boxers to list

the way people want you to choose the most skilled guys im suprised we're getting the likes of mayweather, tyson, leonard and ali

you'd think it'd be a guy like willie pep

mayweather is probabley the most complete boxer i've seen(weakest link being when he has to chase a guy), but for most physical/mental skills acquired and not just born with, bhop is pretty good by the looks of it

he'd be my number 1 pick, alot of the things he does are unnatural, holds his chin very low, naturally uncomrtable that, and when he throws a punch his chin gets tucked even further, and the arm not punching is always well tucked by his head, he throws punches in awkward ways you can just tell they were built "from" adn exactly "for" boxing

[Sugar Adam Ali]

the way people want you to choose the most skilled guys im suprised we're getting the likes of mayweather, tyson, leonard and ali

you'd think it'd be a guy like willie pep

mayweather is probabley the most complete boxer i've seen(weakest link being when he has to chase a guy), but for most physical/mental skills acquired and not just born with, bhop is pretty good by the looks of it

he'd be my number 1 pick, alot of the things he does are unnatural, holds his chin very low indeed, when he throws a punch his chin gets tucked, and he throws them from ways you can just tell they were built for/from boxing

What fights of Floyd make you think this,, I always thought he walks down guys and cuts off ring very well..
Judah was having success til Floyd started chasing him down,same with mosely, he walked down a big puncher like corrales, he chased down a lot f guys in his career..
What fights are you referring to